


Two Princes

by SheWritesDirty



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: 90's AU, Angst, Billy Hargrove has Lesbian Moms, Billy plays guitar, Denial, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Greasy junkyard flirting, Grunge Billy, Homophobic Language, M/M, Pining, Play Fighting, Skateboarding, Slow Burn, Steve is bad at everything, Weed, king steve, loogies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:22:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWritesDirty/pseuds/SheWritesDirty
Summary: Steve’s parents were controlling. They wanted him to graduate his final year of high school, get into a good college (despite his grades being tragically bad) and marry a cute girl. Maybe someone like Nancy. Problem was, Steve didn't really want to do any of that... and he was sick of his parents trying to plan every aspect of his life for him.So when he tells Nancy he wants to rebel just once... before graduation, and really stick it to his parents — she cooks up a plan that honestly has no chance of working. How is Steve supposed to put up with Billy Hargrove, resident loser, skateboarding asshole with a penchant for violence and a massively bad attitude... just long enough to fake a friendship, that his parents would absolutely disprove of?And what happens when... things don't exactly go according to plan?
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 35
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh well looky here! This is a totally self indulgent thing that I've been working on, and I have some of it done... not a whole lot though, three chapters to be exact. And a bit of a plan for where the whole thing is going. I was kind of sitting on it, avoiding posting it and then I was just like. Fuck it. So here we go.

Steve’s parents were controlling. 

Okay, that was kind of an understatement. Before Steve was even out of the womb, they were playing Mozart into his little unformed fetus ears, cooing about how smart he was gonna be… how he was going to make them so _proud_.

Fast forward a decade and they hadn’t let up much since then. They’d gone from aggressive early learning tactics to dressing him up in little sweaters and bow-ties... parading him around the country club. 

His mother would go on about how cute he was, and wasn't he just like his father? And just how many hearts was he going to break, when he got old enough to date? His father went on about how good he was at sports, how he was gonna take over the family business someday… that he had a good head on his shoulders.

Of course, Steve happened to excel at sports... because he’d been put into them from the first moment he could kick a ball without toppling over backwards. Encouraged into little league with a heavy handed push, then swimming, basketball, track and field… 

By the time he was in high school, he wasn’t just a cute face anymore. He was lean, muscled, and he’d grown into himself just fine. He pretty much ticked all the boxes his parents dreamed up… well, all except one.

Turns out Mozart wasn't good for _shit_. 

“C’mon Steve, would you just focus on this one…? You’re so close!” Nancy was saying, spinning her little mechanical pencil around — threading it through two fingers, over and over and over again.

“Don’t you think it's bullshit, Nance?” Steve asked, frowning. “I spend all this time melting my brain trying to get this stuff, and I’m still earning the same shitty grades I always do.”

“You just need to apply yourself a little more…” Nancy started to explain, giving him that look like she actually _believed_ what she was saying. Steve just groaned and let his own pencil and textbook fall out of his hands, landing onto the floor with a thump.

They were sitting on the edge of his bed, studying in his room... and he was pretty sure it was a calculated move by his parents. Whenever Nancy showed up after school they’d send her upstairs with some milk and cookies, a smile and a nod — telling her it was ' _fine if they closed the door_ '.

“Just don’t be too loud, Mr. Harrington is in his study!” His mom would whisper-yell up the stairs. He was kind of surprised she hadn’t slipped some condoms onto the cookie plate yet. 

Because yeah, they wanted Steve to somehow become smart all of a sudden… but they’d also be pretty happy if he just ended up marrying Nancy Wheeler. She was _definitely_ smart, the kind of kid who kept listening to Mozart, even after she’d stopped being a baby with no other choice. 

Steve fucking _hated_ Mozart.

“Oh come on Steve! You can get this, I know you can!” Nancy went on, ever encouraging.

“Or… we could sneak out, and go watch your little brother wipe out at the skate park.” Steve offered instead, raising a hopeful brow… Shuffling around in his pocket and pulling out a blunt that was only a _little_ bent, the one Tommy had slipped him in free period earlier that day.

Nancy just stared at it, clearly tempted. 

She was a goodie-two-shoes, but she was also kind of surprising — in that, she loved getting high. Got all giggly and red cheeked whenever it kicked in, went on and on about how she was so damn smart and cute and _everyone_ liked her.

It was insufferable, he probably would have hated her for it… if it weren't for the fact that he felt the exact same way, excluding the smart part.

“If your mom finds out, she’s gonna hate me.” Nancy said with a tight frown, which was code for her being totally down. They snuck down the stairs Scooby-Doo style — back to front with practiced, careful steps — the third stair creaked under pressure, and the two of them skipped over it like practiced veterans.

They ignored the front door in favor of the one that led out to the garage… picked up the pace as soon as they’d cleared the house and made it out into the side yard. Steve whooped as soon as he felt they were far enough away to be safe, and Nancy just rolled her eyes.

The skate park was less than a ten minute walk from Steve’s house, so they lit up on the way. Hoping that by the time they got there, they’d be well on their way to stoned. 

“You know, they just wanna make sure you can get into a good college.” Nancy said, after holding smoke in her lungs for a while — finally letting it out as she spoke. 

“Yeah, like anything can save me now.” Steve replied bitterly, he was already in his senior year and his grades were _fucked_. He would be lucky enough if he even managed to graduate at all.

“Okay but, you shouldn’t get so mad at them.” She went on, giving him that pointed look... one that said ‘they just want what's best for you.’ Which was a total joke, they wanted what was best for _them_.

“Whatever…” Steve groaned, snatching the joint back and pressing it to his lips… sucking down a dramatic hit — and then another, before passing it back to an impatient Nancy. “Don’t you ever just… wanna go completely wild? Like off the wall... do whatever you can to piss them off?”

“Nah.” Nancy croaked through an inhale, sounding like she was already thoroughly fucked up. “I love my parents.”

“Freak.” Steve teased, laughing as she threw a playful punch at his arm.

When they made it to the park, Steve instantly brought his hands to his face and yelled out at Mike. “Hey nerd! Do a kickflip!” Which earned him a middle finger in return, and a few death glares from the other kids.

“C’mon Steve! Don’t be an asshole!” Nancy admonished, but she was laughing so he figured she kinda _liked_ him being an asshole. She gave Mike a cautious little wave, they hadn’t been getting along like they used to when they were younger… go figure, Mike was in that rebellious phase.

He thought he was so _cool_ , ever since he got all buddy-buddy with the new girl from California. She skateboarded, had red hair and dressed like a boy — and he had to admit, it was pretty awesome. Mike on the other hand, was a complete tool.

But the awesome girl’s brother… he was a real piece of work, and Steve liked having nothing to do with him. And of course he was here, too. Actually letting his sister hangout with him and his friends while they skated, acting like he was Tony Hawk or some shit.

And yeah, maybe he was good — but he wasn’t _that_ good.

“Hargrove’s here.” Nancy pointed out, as if Steve hadn’t already spent at least two minutes glaring in his direction. Somehow she was under the assumption that Steve kind of liked the guy, as if bitching about him constantly wasn’t enough proof otherwise.

“Ugh.” Steve just groaned and urged her to move on… pushing her over to where the sad excuse for a sitting area was. The whole skate park was kind of an afterthought, Hawkins didn’t exactly like the idea of kids having a place to actually do something they enjoyed… but it kept them all off the sidewalks, so the town caved and built it.

Kinda half assed it, too. 

They plopped onto the benches, kept passing the joint back and forth until it was low enough to start burning the tips of their fingers. Steve may have spent the entire time watching Billy, watching as he pulled a bunch of tricks that Steve didn’t know the names to.

“You’re staring again.” Nancy pointed out, rolling her eyes. Steve just quickly tore his gaze away and looked down at his sneakers instead. “You know…” She started to say, before trailing off like she’d thought better of it.

“What?” Steve pressed, picking his head up to glance at her. She looked unsure, fiddling with one of her stud earrings… rolling it between her thumb and forefinger.

“Well, that’d be a pretty good way to piss off your parents.” She finally continued, leaning back a little… she nodded her head over at Billy Hargrove when Steve just stared at her, like he had no idea what she was talking about.

“No way.” Steve said quickly, turning back to look at him again… just in time to catch him wiping out on the half pipe — to watch him getting up again with torn jeans and scuffed knees, laughing like getting fucked up like that was the greatest thing _ever_.

“Just saying.” Nancy said with a shrug, easily dropping the subject. 

Which just left Steve feeling… _weird_. Annoyed. How could she just bring something like that up, and then not explain herself? “What do you mean?” Steve pressed for more, a pinch in his brow as he tried to follow her train of thought.

“Well, imagine bringing that home... to _your_ parents.” She gestured over to Billy, he was licking a split lip… jutting his hips forward and spitting a huge glob of saliva and blood onto the cement.

“Okay, point taken.” Steve said, frowning. “But he’s… he’s the _worst_ , Nance. And there's no fucking way he’d help me.”

“Being ‘the worst’ is _good_ in this scenario.” She said, “And you don’t know that, you haven't even asked.”

“You’re right, okay let's just _ask_.” Steve said with a roll of his eyes, tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Hey! Hargrove!” Nancy called waving him over — ignoring the way Steve grabbed her arm and hissed the words ‘ _I wasn’t fucking serious… Nance!!_ ’

Billy just squinted at them, like he wasn’t entirely sure they actually meant him. Because yeah, Nancy had never spoken to him in her life… ever. And Steve had made it pretty obvious he didn’t like the guy.

“The fuck you want?” Billy asked when he crossed the skate park and came to a stop in front of them. 

He was kind of intimidating, towering over them where they sat… Split lip still bleeding a little. His hair a mess of wild, loose curls. He dressed like a Kurt Cobain wannabe, and it annoyed Steve to no fucking _end_ that it kind of worked for him.

“Don’t talk to her like—'' Steve started to say, only to earn himself an elbow in the ribs from Nancy. He let out a little ‘oof’ at the impact, and quickly shut up.

"Cool tricks, what's that… spinny, hoppy thing…?” Nancy did a little circle in the air with her finger as she spoke, and Billy stared at her like she’d just grown two heads.

“The one eighty…?” He asked cautiously, face pinching up.

“That's the one!” Nancy said slapping her hand on her knee, causing Billy to flinch. “Cool, man.” She said, and Steve had never heard her call anyone ‘man’ before... he gave her the hardest side eye ever.

“Right… _cool_.” Billy replied slowly, chewing at his lip until it bled even worse. “The fuck you want?” He repeated, his tongue swiping away the blood so he could swallow it down. Steve watched the slide of Billy's throat and frowned… he felt a little sick to his stomach.

“Steve’s got great weed, wanna light up with us some time?” Nancy asked.

And now it was Steve’s turn to elbow _her_ in the ribs, because one… it wasn’t even his weed, it was Tommy’s. And second, who the fuck was this and what did she do with Nancy?

“This some kinda joke?” Billy growled out, looking at Steve like he was ready to throw hands… like somehow this whole thing must have been his fault, despite him not having said more than five words to Billy so far.

And okay, it technically _was_ Steve’s fault — but it was all Nancy’s idea.

“Hey Billy, hurry up!” Billy's friends were calling out to him, and his head swung around as he stared back at them. They were standing there with equally suspicious looks on their faces… 

“Next time?” Nancy asked... still trying, despite how obvious it was that Billy was eager to return to his friends and forget this whole, twilight zone interaction.

“Yeah… sure.” Billy said, throwing one last skeptical look at them before turning on his heel and heading back to his friends.

“ _Nancy… what the hell!?”_ Steve hissed under his breath, watching as Billy’s friends turned to grill him in much the same way.

“Hey, I’m just helping.” She said casually, and Steve knew that was total _bullshit_.

* * *

“Guess who came up to my locker today.” Nancy was shoving a fork full of chocolate cake into her mouth, Steve’s _own mother_ had given her the leftovers when she went home yesterday. Apparently it had been enough for her to bring some today, despite the fact that there had been none left for Steve’s lunch.

“Who?” Steve grumbled, letting his bitterness over the cake injustice color his response. They’d taken their lunches outside, because the cafeteria was too stuffy. Pretty much any time of the year where Hawkins wasn’t cold enough to freeze your balls off… everyone took the chance to eat out on the grounds instead.

“Yeah, who?” Tommy joined in, he’d been eying Nancy’s cake almost as hard as Steve had been. Carol was too busy fixing her lip gloss to be bothered by anything going on around her.

“Billy Hargrove.” She finished, sounding smug around her bite of cake. Steve just groaned, and Tommy glanced between the two of them with a sour look… he instantly knew he’d been left out of something important.

“The hell does Hargrove want with you…?” Tommy asked bitterly, narrowing his eyes like all the little gears in his head had started spinning at once. 

“Nothing! He wants nothing with any of us.” Steve quickly explained instead, which honestly just made everything seem even more suspicious… he probably should have just kept his mouth shut.

“Tommy, can I borrow some more 'kush' from you?” Nancy cut in casually, making a point of setting her fork down… half her cake still sitting on her tray.

“Jesus… don’t call it _that_.” Tommy complained, eyes still trained on that cake. Nancy just nudged it closer to the edge of her tray, slowly drifting it closer and closer to Tommy’s.

And all of this... was just really uncool. Nancy was supposed to be his best friend, and now she was trading his own mother’s delicious chocolate cake with Tommy for weed. When it should have been _friendship_ cake. 

Tommy had fished a couple blunts out of his pocket so fast that Steve’s head spun a little, watching with sparkling eyes as the cake was pushed onto his own tray… he handed them over and immediately set to digging into his prize.

“This is ridiculous.” Steve groaned, watching as Nancy held the two joints up triumphantly… only to quickly pocket them when she noticed a teacher coming around the corner of the school.

“ _Operation piss the Harrington’s off… is a go._ ” Nancy whispered into his ear, that smug little grin still on her face.

* * *

By the time the school day was over, Steve had managed to convince Nancy this whole thing was a terrible idea.

“Okay Steve, you win.” She’d said with a dramatic sigh, pulling the two joints out of her pocket and stuffing them into Steve’s jacket. He was honestly impressed Nancy had waited this long to dump the evidence on him, she was always so paranoid of getting caught with something.

Probably because she actually had something to lose, if she was caught… unlike him.

“Let’s hit these at the quarry then, just you and me?” She offered, patting a little at his pocket. 

And yeah, that sounded pretty chill actually. They’d agreed to meet kind of late, seven — which meant Steve had to spend like ten minutes explaining to his parents that he wasn’t going to a _party_ … that he was just going out with friends.

He was kind of afraid to tell them it was Nancy, because he didn’t want them getting any more funny ideas about it… yeah he liked her, but he didn’t _like_ -like her. And he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual — he’d caught her staring at that weirdo Byers kid like… a billion times by now.

The drive up to the quarry was relaxing, he always felt a little more at peace when he was out of the house. Being in his car and cruising around like this... just made him feel _free_. Sometimes, when everyone else in the house had gone to sleep, he snuck out and got into his car and just... drove.

Came out to the quarry or Lovers Lake and killed the engine, stared up at the sparkling sky above and just… smoked a cigarette, listened to the crickets sing. It was one of the few things that actually helped him relax, and he was kind of unsure if he really wanted to share the ritual with Nancy.

As much as he liked being around her, this was still kind of his thing... Not that she’d known about it, when she’d extended the invitation. Everyone just knew the quarry was where you went when you wanted to do something you weren't exactly _supposed_ to be doing and wanted to get away with it.

When Steve pulled up to the clearing, Nancy’s little Volkswagen wasn't there yet. So he hopped out and strolled around the front of his car, leaned up against the still warm hood and waited. It was a pretty nice night, only a slight chill still clinging to the air... It was well into spring, and Steve could almost _taste_ the coming summer and the freedom it promised.

Just as he was getting tired of waiting, shifting on his feet and wondering where the _hell_ Nancy was… he heard the crunch of footsteps, someone coming up from down the road. Which was weird, because the quarry was a bit of a ways out of town... and there was absolutely no reason Nancy would choose to walk over driving.

“She didn’t tell me _you’d_ be here.” A familiar voice cut out into the night air, sounding annoyed. 

“What the hell…” Steve muttered, turning to take in Billy standing behind him… a frown etched into his face. “Wow, she set us up.” He finished, realizing instantly what had happened. 

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Billy groaned, glancing back behind him — like he was thinking about turning right around and marching back home. “Why?” He suddenly asked instead, his brows were pinched together as he glanced back at Steve... like he was really trying to figure this shit out.

“It’s kind of a long story… you still want that smoke?” Steve asked, fishing through his pockets and pulling the two joints out… holding them up, a tiny peace offering. Billy seemed to be thinking that through, shuffling his feet on the gravel and glaring at the joints like they’d done something to personally offend him.

“Fine.” He finally said, stalking forward and shoving Steve aside… leaning against the hood of the car with him. Steve found a lighter in his pocket and lit the first one up, passing it over to Billy before lighting the second one. The two of them took a couple hits, stared out into the open quarry… the darkness spreading out under them as it dropped into the water below.

“Explain.” Billy finally said, blowing a perfect smoke ring out into the air. _Fucking show off_.

“I kind of... we were just — _this is so stupid_.” Steve stammered before sighing that last bit, looking up into the night sky... as if the twinkling stars could somehow keep Billy from making fun of him, once he told him. “I was telling Nancy that I just… Sometimes I just wanna piss my parents off, you know.”

Billy just nodded, “Who doesn't.” he agreed.

“Right?!” Steve said excitedly, feeling validated by Billy's natural acceptance of the idea. “Okay so yeah, we were hanging at the skate park and she just… she pointed you out, and said like — well if you wanna piss them off…” He trailed off, figuring Billy would be able to put two and two together by this point.

Billy just snorted on a laugh, choking a little on a lungful of smoke in the process. “You gotta be fucking _kidding_ me, you want me to help you piss your parents off?” Billy asked, when the coughing subsided.

“Well, Nancy does. I just...” Steve hesitated for just a little too long, and Billy cut him off.

“We’re not exactly cool.” Billy pointed out, dragging his eyes up and down the side of Steve… which made him a little uncomfortable, had him pulling a bit away from Billy.

“Yeah.” Steve agreed… it was the understatement of the century. 

Billy had moved to Hawkins a year ago... and they hadn’t made the best first impressions on each other. Or second... or _third_. Billy struck Steve as a total asshole with no respect for anyone — or anything. He’d gotten into fights the second he’d landed in town, and he even beat Tommy pretty badly one time…

And Steve was preppy, stuck up. He acted like he was the center of the world, and so did the rest of the school. He was probably everything Billy hated… come to think of it, it was kind of surprising that he’d never been on the receiving end of Billy’s fist.

“This is a fuckin’ stupid idea.” Billy finally said, licking his lips.

“I know.” Steve agreed, annoyed — like he hadn’t literally just said that minutes ago.

“What do I get?” Billy went on to ask. And Steve blinked at that, turned to catch the profile of his face… inspecting him for any sign that this was a joke.

“Huh?” Steve asked blankly.

“If I help you, what’s in it for me?” Billy clarified, rolling his eyes a little at the confused look on Steve’s face.

“I guess I didn’t… didn’t think it through that far.” Steve admitted, “I never thought there was a chance you’d say yes.”

Billy sighed, finished his joint and flicked the butt into the pitch black abyss of the quarry… the two of them watching as the red glow of it was swallowed up by darkness. “So I’m working at this garage, because I get a discount…” Billy started to explain, and Steve’s face just got even more confused.

“Discount…? Do you even have a car?” He asked, only to get an exasperated look from Billy.

“Let me fuckin’ finish — no I _don’t_.” Billy answered, his tone made it sound like maybe he thought Steve was stupid. “But there’s this little hot rod down at the junkyard, and I’ve been putting some elbow grease into her.” He paused... reached out, and stole the last of Steve’s own joint right from between his lips. He took a drag, before continuing.

“I think she’ll actually run, but I need some parts before I can even try — and shits fucking expensive.” He finished, Steve watching as he sucked down smoke… it didn’t seem like he was gonna pass it back.

“So…” Steve started to say, brain kicking into double time to try and follow where Billy was going with this.

“ _So_ , you’ve got daddy's credit card.” Billy spelled it out, nice and obvious for him. “You buy my parts, I’ll help you piss them off.”

Steve turned back to the quarry, stared into the pitch black night… mulled it over. He’d probably get in trouble… probably lose the card all together. But wasn’t that the whole point of this? It just seemed like a win, win situation to him.

“Okay.” Steve said, turning to press his hip into the hood of his car… offering to shake on it.

Billy looked at Steve’s hand like it was covered in shit, like maybe he wasn't gonna take it — but then he spit into his own palm… and Steve cringed as Billy slapped a wet hand into his, sealing the deal.

“Cool, now give me a ride home.” Billy said, flicking the butt of the second joint into the quarry and getting into Steve’s car without waiting for him to agree. “By the way, your weed is fucking garbage.”

Which, _rude_.

* * *

Nancy was so annoyingly proud that her plan had worked. She hadn’t stopped talking about it all damn week… _insisted_ on being there, when they put what she’d begun to call ‘Operation Piss off the Harrington’s’ into action. 

And ‘plan’ was kind of... a generous term for it. Because really it was just Steve bringing Billy into his house and being very, ‘ _Oh yes, by the way, meet my new friend Billy_.’ Maybe make sure he didn’t wipe his feet or something…. Fix it so that he smelled like cigarettes and beer before he stepped into the house.

Which was exactly where they were headed, now. Gearing up to put this whole plan to its first test.

“Fucking boreeeeed.” Billy complained from the back seat, drawing it out in the most annoying way possible.

“Yeah, yeah — would you just relax?” Steve threw back at him, he could already feel the beginning of a headache working its way in. ”We’re almost there.” He finished. Steve was quickly reminded why he couldn’t _stand_ Billy… The guy had been somehow, remotely tolerable at the quarry. But any time that Billy got around multiple people, he became insufferable.

“Um, Steve. Did your mom have some… _thing_ going on today?” Nancy asked, and Steve tore his eyes away from glaring at Billy in the rear-view mirror… only to find several cars parked along the curb leading to his house, a few more in the driveway.

“Oh shit… this is…” Steve started to say, pulling up behind someone's car.

  
“Perfect!” Nancy finished for him. Nothing like making an entrance, he was already imagining his mother’s face when Billy waltzed in on one of her little get togethers.

“You think your mom made those little finger sandwiches things? I love that shit.” Billy was saying from the back seat, leaning forward with more enthusiasm than Steve had ever seen him show over anything — _ever_. He turned around in his seat and looked Billy up and down… an evaluating stare.

The mullet worked in Steve’s favor, the excessive jewelry even more… a single earring dangling from his right ear, fingers covered in rings, some pendant resting in the center of his chest. Steve’s mother believed fully that a man should only wear a wedding ring and a watch. _Classic_ , she called it.

Billy was anything but classic, the knees of his jeans were shredded, he had a slightly stained grey t-shirt on under some plaid, worn out flannel. He still had a bruise from wiping out on his board under his jaw — that had settled into a nice, mottled purple and blue.

“Think we should dirty him up a bit?” Steve asked, only to have Nancy turn in her seat and join in the scrutinizing.

“Wow, I feel like a fucking animal in a zoo.” Billy spat out, clearly annoyed.

“Shut up and smoke this—” Steve fired back, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it... thrusting the filter end at Billy’s face. He leaned forward and snapped it up in his teeth, _barely_ missing Steve’s fingers. 

“You know, maybe you guys should like... practice getting along?” Nancy said, glancing between them. “I mean, if you two can't sell liking each other then this whole thing is pointless.”

“You’re right, c’mere Harrington… lemme get a kiss.” Billy sneered, pushing through the empty space above the center console and trying to trap Steve’s face in between his hands.

“Ugh— _fuck off_!” Steve sputtered, pulling away and wrenching his door open… stumbling out of the car.

“Wow, great performance.” Nancy said, sighing.

“Not my fault he doesn't wanna play nice.” Billy said with a shrug, getting out of the car behind Steve and putting the cigarette out on the heel of his boot, before flicking it into the bushes. All three of them made their way to the house, and Steve took a grounding breath before he opened the door and stepped in…

“Hey… Mom?” He called out as he went inside, heard her voice answering him from the drawing room. Steve turned to scowl at Billy when he instinctively made to wipe his boots off before stepping in. 

“ _Right...sorry_.” Billy whispered, frowning when Steve grabbed onto his arm and tugged him to where his mother was.

“Is it cool that I have friends over?” Steve asked as he rounded the corner, and bullseye… five of his mother's best friends were all sitting with her over coffee, the best Hawkins had to offer.

“Of course dear…” His mother started to say, before hesitating as she noticed Billy...standing awkwardly between Steve and Nancy — who both had fake smiles plastered on their faces. “Whose this?”

“Billy Hargrove, ma’am.” He said quickly, only to earn himself an elbow in the ribs from _both_ Steve and Nancy. “Uh— I mean... _shit_.” He said, clearly unable to handle being a delinquent properly for one goddamn minute.

“Hargrove…” One of Steve’s mothers friends repeated, her nose pinching up at that. No one else seemed to care much, they just went on with their get together… they were pouring over wallpaper books, because his mom wanted to redo the den — _again_ — and apparently she needed her whole entourage to help pick something out.

Billy kind of looked like he wanted to launch across the room, and shake that one lady until she spit out what her problem with the Hargrove family was… and while that probably would have worked to piss his parents off, he didn’t want Billy getting the cops called either.

“Yeah so… Billy’s here.” Steve tried again, only to have his mother give him a funny look.

“Of course dear, that's fine… why don't you go to your room to hangout.” She said dismissively, turning back to the book.

Nancy and Steve just exchanged a wide eyed look, Billy shifting uncomfortably between them. “There are cookies in the kitchen, why don't you take some with you?” His mom said, waving her hand again… obviously wanting nothing to do with them.

Billy's eyebrows rose up at the promise of cookies, and he started wandering off to find the kitchen without them. Nancy just shrugged and headed for the stairs…while Steve dashed after Billy to make sure he didn’t get lost or… _steal_ something.

* * *

“Turns out, your mom’s less judgemental than you.” Billy said with a smirk, shoving two chocolate chip cookies stacked on top of each other, into his fat, stupid mouth. They’d gone up to Steve’s room, and Billy had spent about ten minutes making fun of everything in there… before giving it up and flopping down on Steve’s bed.

“I really thought that was going to work.” Nancy said with a shake of her head.

“She's just — distracted by decorating.” Steve pointed out, “I mean she barely even looked at him!” 

Billy had stretched out and taken up all the space on Steve’s bed for himself, which left Nancy perched on his desk chair, and Steve sprawled out on the floor. He was kind of annoyed, Billy hadn’t even managed to freak his mom out yet... he didn’t _earn_ those cookies that he was currently inhaling. 

“Maybe your dad is a better target?” Nancy tried, still hopeful for their little plan.

“Dad is more of a hard-ass than mom is.” Steve agreed. “But he’s at some work retreat, and won't be back until next week.”

“Great — sounds like I don’t owe you shitbirds anything ‘till then…” Billy said, sitting up like he was about to leave now that his work was done.

“Hold on.” Nancy cut in, pointing a sharp finger at the both of them. “You two need to work on being more convincing… the way it is now, it’s like you two don’t even _like_ each other!”

“Yeah well…” Steve started to say, only to have Billy finish his sentence.

“We don't.” He ignored the glare Steve shot his way.

“Right… and your parents aren’t _stupid,_ Steve…” Nancy said slowly, giving him a pointed look. “They’re gonna figure it out if you act like that.”

Steve grumbled, but he had to hand it to her… she was right. “What do you suggest we do?” He asked, pouting a little.

“I _suggest_ … that you two hangout over the weekend. Learn something about each other, so maybe when your dad interrogates you… which you know he's gonna do!” Nancy shouted that last part, before Steve could interject. “You can actually be, you know... convincing.” She finished, nodding her head.

“Fuck… I’m really not getting paid enough to actually hangout with him.” Billy complained.

“Please, I’m over paying you.” Steve added, Billy threw a half eaten cookie at his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [-Tumblr-](https://shewritesdirty.tumblr.com/)   
>  [-Twitter-](https://twitter.com/_Cait_Sidhe_)   
>  [-Playlist-](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SgREu852Q0FJDGrqj8JLK?si=w408B6lrQf6GlAYG9E-mrg)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Billy’s mom is Beth since that’s the name of the actress who plays her, and I didn’t want to just pull some name out of my ass for her sooooo... Billy and Beth.

Steve could have been anywhere. It was Saturday, there were parties going on… people were having fun. 

And instead of having fun _with_ them, Steve was standing outside Billy Hargrove’s garage and listening to the chugging of some electric guitar…hesitating, not wanting to actually knock. He could just walk away and forget all of this, he reasoned to himself. Give Billy a couple twenties for his wasted time and call them square.

Except, that also kind of felt like pussying out… and Steve just wasn’t that sort of guy. So he sucked in a deep breath and let his knuckles rap heavily on the metal doors. The guitar chugged on, and there was no answer. 

And it all left Steve feeling very annoyed.

He bent over and grabbed the handle to the garage, pulled it up — the sound of it rolling on its tracks echoing loudly above the noise of Billy’s guitar. By the time the door was up, Billy was turned around with his hands on his hips and watching Steve with an angry glint in his eyes.

“Come the fuck on in then, why don't you?” Billy growled, as Steve did just that… leaving the garage door wide open behind him.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He replied, scoping out the space... flopping onto an old sofa that was set up around what _appeared_ to be Billy’s jam space. He immediately regretted that course of action, as an entire cloud of dust and ash kicked up around him… it smelled strongly of cigarettes, weed and basement mold. 

Billy just grumbled as he stalked over to the garage door and pulled it back down — letting it slam with a sharp _clang_ into the floor.

Steve’s eyes tracked him as he came back to the center of the room, as he stood on an old braided rug and went back to strumming his guitar. The amplifiers were too loud, and they filled the cramped space with ear splitting chaos… it made Steve’s head ring.

“WHAT’S THAT?!” Steve tried to yell over the sound of it.

“WHAT?” Billy yelled back, still playing. Steve just rolled his eyes, leaning back into the couch and trying to pretend this wasn’t a total waste of a weekend… When Billy finally finished strangling his guitar, Steve tried asking again.

“What’s that song?” 

Billy just stood there for a second, fiddling with the strings of his guitar… a fuzzy, warm sound vibrating through the speakers. “Freak.” He finally said, pulling the cable connecting his guitar to the amp out. There was a pop that filled the room as he did so, the sound of the connection being broken.

“Fitting.” Steve said, a stupid smile on his face — as if he’d just told a really good joke with that one.

Billy set the guitar down silently, before stomping over to Steve and bringing his boot up… dropping it heavily on the couch, right next to Steve’s thigh. Billy leaned forward, a grimace etched into his face as he hovered over Steve. It was just a little intimidating. “I’m. Helping. _You_.” He reminded Steve darkly, jabbing him in the center of the chest with his finger on each word.

“ _Ow_ …” Steve muttered lamely, then watched as Billy shoved away again and turned to pace the garage.

“This isn’t gonna work... let's forget it.” Billy finally announced, coming to an abrupt stop in the center of the room.

“Woah— woah, hold on!” Steve argued, launching up and out of the couch. “I was being a dick okay? I’m uh... I’m sorry.” The way he said it was kind of like he had to force it out… and Billy’s eyes sharpened at him, like he was evaluating how sorry Steve actually was.

“Yeah okay, this… this is still so stupid.” Billy brought a hand up to his face and pressed it between his brows, scrunched them up. Almost like the logistics of this whole thing was giving him brain failure, Steve could relate.

“We’re just supposed to get to know each other.” Steve shrugged, “Easy.” He said it with conviction, even though he didn’t believe it himself. He just needed to convince Billy to stick around a little longer… to give him a real chance.

“Right, easy.” Billy repeated, giving Steve a look that said he didn’t much believe that either.

“Yeah so… Freak, huh?” Steve asked in a way that made it clear he was digging for more, and Billy just blinked at him. It was strange how nervous he felt suddenly, and it was completely ridiculous because… it wasn’t like any of this actually mattered? It wasn’t like he actually cared if Billy liked him or not.

“Silverchair.” Billy answered stiffly, drawing him out of his weird mental spiral. It seemed like some kind of code word that Steve wasn’t quite following.

“What?” Steve asked, trying to figure out what a silver chair had to do with any of this.

“The band.” Billy replied, a little sharpness to his tone… he was annoyed again.

“That's a band?” Steve asked, eyebrows shooting up a little.

 _“Jesus…”_ Billy muttered, he was actually rubbing his forehead now, as if this entire conversation with Steve had given him a headache.

“Okay you’re right… this isn't gonna work.” Steve started to say, making like he was gonna leave… gonna just, stalk over to those garage doors and leave of his own accord, the same way he’d come in. But then Billy was grabbing him, manhandling him back onto the couch despite his squeak of protest.

It wasn’t his fault… his voice always got a little high when he was surprised.

“No way, you’re not leaving after saying that shit to me!” Billy shouted, following it up with a commanding ‘ _sit_ ’ when Steve started to get up again… so he let himself sink back into the sofa instead, a sour expression sitting heavy on his face. Billy had turned away and started rummaging through some old cabinet, sliding doors until he pulled out a CD case… breathing out a triumphant sound as he pushed it into the player sitting on top.

The warm sound of guitars filled the air around them, slow and building… vibrating deep in Steve’s chest. Billy stalked back over and fell into the couch next to him, the impact of his landing sent Steve swaying where he sat.

“Silverchair.” Billy announced, closing his eyes.

And then they were just... sitting there, listening to guitars and drums and the drone of some guy's voice… he sounded pretty angry to Steve, it all fit his image of Billy pretty well.

It was massively awkward, sitting there quietly like that… Billy’s eyes shut tight, the soft rise and fall of his chest as he breathed in and out. Steve shifted uncomfortably — because the worn out cushions kept dipping in, and he had to keep moving away or his thigh was gonna end up pressed right alongside Billy’s.

He tried to focus on the lyrics or… something. But it was kind of mumbled and… Steve honestly had no fucking idea what this guy was really saying half the time. He tried to look around the garage and take his surroundings in, maybe distract himself from how weird he felt sitting next to Billy. 

It was pretty obvious that the garage had been ‘claimed’ by Billy. There wasn’t even a car in here, and Steve had noticed a car parked in the driveway when he’d first arrived. Steve tried to picture how a conversation with his own parents might have gone, if he’d asked them for any space in the house besides his own room.

That was a conversation that definitely wouldn’t have ended with him having a whole hang-out set up in their garage, that was for sure. He was also pretty sure all the black-light posters hung up wouldn’t have been allowed, either.

In fact, the whole space gave off… anti-parent vibes. It smelled like weed, and it had everything any of the adults he knew would have banned. Steve wondered if Billy was some kind of weird, teenaged dictator in his own house. Maybe they were all scared of him, it kind of made sense.

His sense of discomfort was only getting worse and… he couldn’t handle the strained silence anymore. He was about to try and start some kind of normal conversation, when the song switched over, and the sound was... different. This one was catchy, and Steve couldn’t help but feel the rhythm of it a little. 

He started tapping his foot to it, a little smile playing across his lips.

About a minute into the song and… Steve kind of getting into it, was when he realized Billy had opened his eyes… that he was watching Steve with a strange look on his face. Steve flushed and ducked his head. “This ones better.” He said, like that was all the explanation he needed for being a total dork.

Billy’s mouth opened, chapped lips parting like he was about to respond to that… when they were suddenly interrupted.

“Billy! There you are, lord turn that racket _down_ , will you?” A woman that Steve could only assume was Billy’s mom had her head around the corner, peeking in on them… her long blonde hair hanging down around her shoulders. 

She seemed to do a double take at Steve, blinking at him, before dropping her eyes to stare at his polo tee like she’d never seen one in person before. “Who's your friend?” She finally asked, when Billy had gotten up to turn the CD player off.

“We’re not friends.” Billy grumbled, and her face lit up with a grin.

“Oh? Is your _not-friend_ staying for dinner?” She went on, and Steve couldn’t help but notice how that sounded kind of… suggestive. “Would you like dinner?” The second time she directed the question straight to Steve, who nodded.

“He isn’t staying that long.” Billy interjected, glancing between the two of them… a look of panic striking his face, like he knew he was losing control of the situation.

“I’m making lasagna.” She said, and Steve smiled.

“I love lasagna.” He replied, because he did… and his own mom _never_ made stuff like that, she hated anything that came out of a casserole dish.

“Well, it's settled then! Your not-friend is staying for dinner!” Billy’s mom said cheerily, ignoring his sputtered protests as she pulled back out of the room.

“You’re _dead,_ Harrington…” Billy muttered darkly, glaring at him.

“Oh come on! She seems nice, what are you worried about?” Steve asked, rolling his eyes at the aura of pure doom rolling off Billy.

* * *

Billy had two moms. It was one of those things no one in a small town really wanted to point out, but _everyone_ noticed.

Steve thought it was kind of cool, he liked Susan plenty — but he liked Beth even _more_. He liked watching her poke fun at Billy… liked watching Billy turn beet red in a way that made his freckles stand out all the worse, and mutter about how embarrassing she was. She just pinched at his arm and planted a big sticky kiss on his cheek… and Billy wiped roughly at the gloss she’d left behind and grimaced.

It was Steve’s first time watching someone give Billy a hard time and not get a knuckle to the nose for it — and Billy seemed to be trying to pretend like Steve wasn’t even there, seeing as how he hadn’t looked at Steve once since they’d joined his family in the kitchen.

Which was fine, because everyone else seemed singularly focused on the fact that Steve _was_ here. Max insisted on sitting next to him at the table, and was telling him every single detail about how she’d absolutely crushed Mike and Lucas in Street Fighter.

And Susan kept asking him if he needed anything; a snack while they waited... something to drink. He’d said yes to the drink, and she rattled off the options... they had orange juice, milk, soda (which Billy kicked up a fuss about, because apparently neither him nor Max were allowed soda with dinner) and _homemade_ lemonade.

The choice was obvious... and Steve fired a smug grin straight at Billy as he sipped on an ice cold Crystal Pepsi. 

“Alright! Everyone leave our guest alone and set the damn table!” Beth shouted, when it was clear that Steve was getting a little overwhelmed with the attention.

Beth herself had been fussing over the oven. She kept kneeling down to check the lasagne through the window… kept frowning at it, and announcing that it just needed a couple more minutes to brown the cheese. Her hair was so long that Steve found it hard not to stare.

It was the kind of hair his mother said only hippies wore, but Steve quickly realized he _liked_ that about Beth. And now he could see where Billy had gotten it from... comparing Billy’s own wild hair to his mother’s just made it seem all the more obvious that they were related.

His eyes slid from Beth over to Billy, who was grabbing glasses from an overhead cabinet. Really took in his curls… and realized he liked Billy’s hair, too. He liked the dirty blonde color, the way it fell down the back of his neck in waves — no one wore their hair like that in Hawkins. 

He wondered if California was just full of people with hair longer than they should’ve had.

“So, Steve…” Beth suddenly said, having turned around to watch him… watch him watching her _son_. Steve flushed and dropped his gaze instantly. No one else seemed to have noticed, which was a relief.

“How did you and Billy meet?” She asked softly, keeping her voice low enough so that no one else heard them over Max and Billy’s arguing. Neither one of them wanted to go get the ‘good’ place mats, which Susan apparently kept in a box tucked away somewhere in the pantry.

Steve blanched a little, he was terrible at thinking up convincing lies on the spot. But it wasn’t like he could come out with the truth — that he was only _pretending_ to be Billy’s friend… because he felt like maybe telling Beth that her son was nothing more than a good way to upset his parents would be pretty... fucked up. Especially after she’d been so welcoming to him.

“Um—I uh, we…” Steve stuttered through his words, trying to get something out that made even the least bit of sense. “Science!” He finally blurted, flushing a little when Beth raised her brow at him. “We’re lab partners.” He finished much more coherently, and she just nodded.

“Well that explains it.” She said, still smiling warmly at him. “Not to judge a book by its cover but, I don’t think you two would have gotten together organically.” 

And _that_ was the understatement of the century, Steve thought. 

“You got that right.” He voiced his agreement before he could stop himself, but Beth just laughed — her face crinkling up around the edges like she really thought he was funny. It felt weird to have a parent react like that to him.

He was used to receiving disappointed looks, his mothers gentle attempt at redirecting him, followed by his father cutting in with ‘no one likes a smartass, Steve.’ 

“Give him a chance,” Was all Beth said, dropping her tone even lower and leaning in close. “He might surprise you.”

“The hell are you two whispering about?” Billy’s voice cut in, and Beth leaned away from Steve with a wide grin.

  
“Nothing honey, did you get the place mats?” She asked in a sing-song voice, sniffing the air and… pausing. “Uh oh.” She said, glancing nervously at Steve one final time before bending over and pulling open the stove… a plume of black smoke filled the kitchen, and everyone started coughing.

“Crap.” Beth muttered, staring in at the charred remains of her lasagna. “Who wants pizza?”

The next twenty minutes in the Hargrove/Mayfield household were complete chaos — Susan trying to balance on the table top while she desperately tried to snatch the smoke alarm down from the ceiling, as it blared its warning beeps incessantly. 

Steve dove to catch the flower vase Susan had accidentally upended in her attempts, and water spilled out all over the table that Billy and Max had only just finished setting. 

Max and Billy were arguing over the toppings for their pizza, and Billy kept announcing that — because he was the one old enough to call, that he got final say in everything. Max kicked him once in the shins, hard and fast, and Billy ended up doubled over up on the floor.

Beth had donned oven mitts like battle armor, and was currently rushing out the back door with the smoking, bubbling mess of her lasagna held high above the both of them.

“Steve is picking the toppings, he's the guest!” She shouted as she kicked the back door open, it slapped against its hinges behind her as she left. Both Max and Billy turned to glare at him, and he smiled innocently as he dumped a soggy handful flowers into the sink.

By the time Susan got the alarm down, Beth had come back into the house and was sighing — flopping into one of the kitchen chairs and wiping at her forehead, leaving a little smudge of blackened soot behind.

“Well dear, there isn’t any better way to introduce someone to our family.” Susan said softly, climbing over the table to press a tiny kiss into Beth’s cheek, before carefully getting down.

And then Steve realized Beth had been really serious about him picking toppings, and he suddenly felt very nervous. Max kept hissing what she wanted up at him while Billy sent her death glares, and he’d ended up choking and asking for pepperoni and mushrooms — to which both Max and Billy groaned.

He was pretty sure Beth did it just to make them suffer, because she kept trying to hide a grin as she called the order in.

By the time the pizza actually got there, everyone was over the lasagna disaster — and dinner was… it was. Fun. Steve realized, as he sat down to eat with all of them. It was kind of hectic, and the conversation never stopped… in fact half the time, there were at least two different ones raging on at the same time, and it was kind of hard to keep up with.

Max was excitedly telling Beth all about how her school project was coming, something she was working on with Lucas and… It sounded kind of confusing, but he was pretty sure that was because he’d only caught half the conversation.

The rest of the time he’d been peering over at Billy, and the way he was just… letting Susan talk about her shift at work with him, nodding and acting like he was interested. Which was. Weird. He didn’t quite know how to square Billy being reserved and… almost, normal. With his family.

And for a moment, he felt kind of out of place. Like he was intruding on something that he shouldn’t have… and he felt a little sick, as he chewed a slice of pizza slowly. But then Beth was turning to him, with her bright, beaming smile and…

Asking him, something about himself. 

Steve missed it for a moment, had to ask her what she’d said and… then he was pulled into the flow of the conversation with the rest of them.

* * *

“Your moms are cool.” Steve said, staring down at his shoes as they walked awkwardly side by side... the two of them heading down the little paved pathway that led through the Hargrove/Mayfields front lawn. Billy had walked Steve out, on account of his mother giving him a sharp look when he’d scoffed at her suggestion of that very thing.

“Fucking embarrassing, you mean.” Billy grumbled out, clearly still bitter over having Steve see any of his home life at all. And Steve couldn’t help but feel pissed off by the guy's attitude. Billy had this amazing family and... he didn’t seem to appreciate it at all.

“C’mon man… it’s obvious how much they love you." Steve argued, feeling a little twist in his gut as he said that. He couldn't help but think about all the ways that Billy’s family felt like the complete opposite from his own. And he found himself trying to remember the last time they had all sat down for dinner together.

“Gag me.” Was all Billy said, sticking his tongue out in an exaggerated expression of disgust.

Steve thought about punching him right in the face for the second time since this whole mess had started. But he fought back the urge, and just... got into his car, glancing out the window to catch Billy staring back down at him.

“You’re such an _asshole_ … you don’t even know how good you have it.” Steve said, head dropping to stare at his lap. He startled at the sound of his passenger side door suddenly being wrenched open, and turned to stare in horror as Billy flung himself into the car.

“Yeah?” Billy grit out, slamming the door shut behind him. “What about you then? You get anything you want — born with a silver spoon right up your ass! And you’re acting like a spoiled fucking brat, trying to rebel against your parents like you have any damn reason to.”  
  
Steve opened his mouth to reply to that, only to get cut off before he could.

“And when you realize how good you had it, when you realize you don’t _like_ getting cut off or — or treated like every other kid gets treated, you’re gonna go right back to sucking up to Mommy and Daddy...” Billy spit out, getting really worked up. Something bitter reflecting in his eyes as he avoided looking straight at Steve, opting to rant at the dashboard in front of him instead.

“So don’t fucking tell me what I have, okay?” Billy finished, already moving to shove his way back out of Steve’s car.

Steve just watched him go, jaw dropped open — caught completely off guard by the outburst. He watched Billy slam the front door as he went back in the house, and sat there for a few minutes just... trying to figure out what had happened. How it had gone from, Steve being angry to… Billy, putting him back in his place and now... Now he just felt weird.

Angry still but, maybe like he _had_ overstepped somewhere. He shook himself out of it, keyed his engine on and drove home in silence. Billy’s words kept forcing their way back into his thoughts, like pinpricks. Sharp little jabs that had far too much truth to them to ignore.

This whole thing was Nancy’s fault, he reasoned. Encouraging them to do this, as if they could ever be anything more than two people who hated each other's guts. They just weren’t compatible — they were total opposites and… everything about Billy pissed him off. 

It was _clearly_ fucking mutual.

As soon as he was home, he hurried out of his car... slamming the door a little harder than was strictly necessary before marching up the front steps. His anger quickly melted, and it stayed simmering in the background of his mind as he fiddled with the lock, as he stepped into the house and was met with silence.

“Mom?” Steve called out, his voice echoing a little in the foyer. He already found himself missing the hectic atmosphere of the Billy's home... the way voices bounced off every wall as they talked excitedly. He wandered into the drawing room only to find his Mother sitting on the floor, pouring over interior design books. “Mom.”

“There’s some pasta in the fridge.” She said, her nose pinching a little as she stared at a panel of brown carpet samples.

“... Okay, how was your day?” Steve asked, only to get an exasperated huff back.

  
“Honey — I’m busy right now, why don’t you take dinner up to your room?” She said, waving the back of her hand at him, dismissing him.

Steve stood a moment longer and watched her flip through pages, her attention fully absorbed in those books... as if he’d already left. Then he wandered back into the hall, forgoing the kitchen and taking the stairs instead. He went to his room and fished his Nokia out of his backpack before calling Nancy, flopping bonelessly into his bed as it rang — primed to tell her all about how her master plan had failed spectacularly…

There was a click, and Nancy’s soothing voice answered… and then Steve launched into the whole story — retelling the events of the day, and getting more and more annoyed each time Nancy made a soft sound of disapproval at something he’d done that was probably stupid.

  
When he’d finally filled her in, she just sighed… and the silence had him shifting uncomfortably on his bed, before she finally spoke up.

“Wow, so what you’re telling me is… you messed the whole thing up?” Nancy asked, she seemed like she wasn’t all that surprised by this.

“What the hell? How is this my fault!?” Steve yelled, a little hurt by how quickly Nancy took Billy’s side over his own.

“ _Because,_ ” She went on, sighing like it was ridiculous that she even had to explain herself. “Everything was going fine, until you opened your big mouth and had to tell him he didn’t appreciate his family enough… what the hell were you thinking, Steve!”

“It wasn’t even going that well anyway,” Steve protested, despite the fun he’d had with the rest of Billy’s family… the ice had never _really_ thawed between them. “We can’t get along Nance, we just can’t.” He went on to say, remembering the weird tension between him and Billy when they were alone in his garage and using that to justify things to himself.

“You aren’t even genuinely trying,” Nancy admonished, her voice sounding disappointed over the phone.“I’m serious Steve, go apologize to him.” 

“Me? What about him!” Steve asked incredulously.

“You started it, and you know Billy isn’t gonna apologize.”Nancy pointed out, and Steve could practically _hear_ her rolling her eyes. “He isn’t even the one who needs this partnership in the first place!”

“Yeah well… I’m not doing it either.” Steve murmured, a bitterness creeping up into his tone. “Besides, he was such an asshole about things.” The shit that was said back in his car sat weird with him… he felt like Billy had gotten under his skin and pried up all the things he didn’t want to admit to himself.

And now he wasn’t even sure he really wanted Billy getting to know him better... because he couldn’t help but wonder how much more damage he could do if he really _did_ know Steve. That, the last thing he wanted to do, was give Billy the tools he needed to draw blood.

“Look, all I’m saying is… If you still wanna do this thing, then you gotta make it up to him.” Nancy’s voice cut in through his thoughts. “Isn’t it too early to give up?”

Steve just sighed, staring up at his ceiling as he mulled that over. “Yeah, okay… so how do I apologize?”

* * *

Billy’s friend group was kind of intimidating, lounging there, their legs hanging over the edge of the half pipe as they smoked… and there were a lot of reasons why Steve shouldn’t have approached them. 

Mostly it was that, they clearly thought he was a joke — and they _clearly_ hated him just as bad as Billy did. The three of them looking down at him like dog shit stuck to the underside of their shoe, like they couldn’t _believe_ he was actually walking up to them right now.

“Hey.” Steve tried anyway, going for casual. Like what he was doing wasn’t completely insane — like it was totally natural for him to show up at the skate park and approach them. 

It had only been one day since his argument with Billy, because Nancy had kept pushing the fact that Steve shouldn't let things rest too long… and that he should apologize sooner rather than later. 

“Can I talk to you?” He hated the way he sounded, put out and put on the spot. The way he was forced to speak up to them, the sun getting in his eyes a bit as he tried to look up at them.

Billy just blinked down at him, he had a cigarette between his lips and smoke blew out of his nose as he huffed a laugh. “You’re talkin’ to me _now_ , aren't you?” was all Billy said, and Steve instantly recognized it for the challenge it was… the underlying ‘if you can say it to me, you can say it in front of my friends’ coming through loud and clear.

Which was just… great, _really_ great. Steve already felt like a total loser for doing this in the first place, and having all of Billy’s friends around for it was like… easily ten times worse. Still, he choked down the embarrassment and soldiered on.

  
“Okay, so... I’m sorry about what I said.” Steve swallowed at the thick lump in his throat, before elaborating. “You were right, I don’t know anything about your situation… and you don’t know anything about mine. That’s— that’s why we’re doing this in the first place.”

Billy sat there for a second, his mouth parted… his cigarette hanging limply, like he was totally blindsided by that. Like Steve apologizing to him, was the most unbelievable thing. And then he was getting up quick, flicking his cigarette out in an arc and — grabbing his board.

“Catch.” He said, not even waiting for Steve to reply before tossing it down at him. And Steve scrambled, just barely catching the board and — wincing, at the way the wheels hit hard into his forearms.

Then Billy was climbing down, using the little ladder to the side and… Steve just watched. Feeling incredibly awkward, he glanced away from Billy just long enough to catch his friends staring at Steve like he had grown a second head.

He was about to say something smart like, ‘take a picture it’ll last longer’ when Billy’s hand was suddenly grasping his arm _hard_ and — Billy was tugging him, dragging him across the skate park. Away from his friends stunned expressions as they stared after them.

  
“The _hell_ do you think you’re doing?” Billy hissed, as soon as he’d gotten them out of earshot of the rest — grabbing his board back out of Steve’s other hand, before shoving him around a corner and up against a wall.

  
“What? I’m apologizing.” Steve sputtered out, confused. This was already going the opposite of how he’d hoped it would.

“Right in front of my fucking friends? You don’t think that's gonna give them some kind of funny idea?” Billy growled, pulling Steve away from the wall, only to shove him back into it again. 

“You— you _told_ me to!” Steve complained, slapping and pushing at Billy’s arms until he released him, until Billy stepped back and gave him some space. He wondered what that even meant, what kind of ‘funny’ idea his friends would have about them… was it really that strange for them to be talking like this?

“Didn’t think you were gonna go all… _feelings_ on me.” He sneered the word, like it did him personal harm to say it. He looked ridiculous, all pulled in on himself — projecting his own defensiveness and discomfort loud and clear.

“Well… I am sorry, I mean it.” Steve tried again, frowning. He wasn’t lying about that, he really _did_ mean what he was saying now. He finally got the fact that he’d crossed a line with Billy... and the whole thing was starting to sit a little too heavily on him.

“Alright, fine! Apology accepted. Now shut up about it, will you?” Billy muttered that last bit, looking away… “You know how you’re gonna make it up to me?” He suddenly said, turning back to Steve— teeth on full display, a shark like grin that made Steve squirm a little.

He just shook his head, and Billy rolled his eyes… like he was totally exasperated with Steve, and the way he had to explain everything in simple terms for him to even _get_ it.

“It’s time to make good on your part of the deal, pretty boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [-Tumblr-](https://shewritesdirty.tumblr.com/)   
>  [-Twitter-](https://twitter.com/_Cait_Sidhe_)   
>  [-Playlist-](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SgREu852Q0FJDGrqj8JLK?si=w408B6lrQf6GlAYG9E-mrg)


	3. Chapter 3

Steve watched from a distance as Billy went back to his friends… watched as he got caught up in conversation— one girl in particular seemed to be grilling him on what was going on. Even from afar, even though Steve couldn’t _actually_ tell what they were saying… he could still see the way that Billy effortlessly wiggled his way out of giving her anything definitive.

And then Billy was throwing his board down and riding it back over to Steve. Coasting, taking a smooth corner as he got close, before skidding to a stop— hopping off his board and stepping on the edge to flip it back up into his hands.

Steve refused to be impressed by how good he was at that.

“Where are we going?” He asked instead, schooling his voice into something cool and trailing after Billy. The guy had already started making his way down the sidewalk, in the direction of downtown. It wasn’t much of a walk, four or five minutes... it was part of the reason there was a decent sized community group that always protested the skate parks existence in the first place.

It was just a _little_ too close to town, and as Steve’s own mother had once said… ‘it encouraged bad behavior’ — all because some kid broke a window one time, down at Melvald’s. Steve never bothered to point out that they had no proof that the incident was even related to the skate park, because it wasn’t like she would have listened to him anyway.

Billy just turned his head and shot Steve a wink, before responding. “You’ll know when we get there.”

“ _Great…_ ” Steve muttered, wondering if this was all just some ruse to lure him some dark and quiet alley where Billy could enact his revenge. Of course, if that were the case… he probably wouldn’t have been leading Steve straight into the center of town. And he… probably could have done that right in front of his friends, anyway.

Billy kept getting on his board and riding ahead of Steve… only to glance back at him, slowing down enough that he could catch back up. Steve never adjusted his pace— he still had enough pride to refuse to chase after Billy, he wasn’t gonna let the guy make him hurry to keep up.

They’d made it to town pretty quickly, which Steve was thankful for because it wasn’t like they were talking, and for some reason Steve really didn’t feel much need to speak up. Nancy probably would have said something about him wasting this time… that he could have used the five minute walk to get to _know_ Billy.

But he was happy enough not to, was just as happy walking in silence… getting a bit distracted by the quiet goings on in the neighborhood.

And then Billy came to an abrupt stop, almost like he’d gotten sick of waiting up for Steve to catch up… and he’d gotten off his board, pausing until they were side by side again. Steve was about to ask him what the hell he was doing, when Billy reached out and caught Steve right in the center of his shirt… gathering loose fabric into his fist and _tugging_.

“What the fuck— let me go!” Steve sputtered, fighting with Billy for a second before giving in and letting the guy turn and direct him to stand in front of a slightly rundown building... one that he was vaguely familiar with. “Why… why are we here?” Steve asked, brushing out the front of his shirt when Billy released him. He was staring up at the slightly rusted out sign for Hawkins Auto, hanging above the garage.

“Gotta cash in my first payment Harrington, don’t I?” Billy said, grabbing Steve once again and pulling him towards the entrance. “Keep up.”

“You haven't even done anything yet,” Steve complained, a tiny bell chiming overhead as Billy pushed open the door. “My parents don’t even care!”

“Nah-ah, that wasn’t the deal…” Billy said, finally letting go of Steve’s shirt and motioning for him to follow, leading Steve right to the front desk. “You never said it actually had to _work,_ and I’ve done my part so far.”

“How so…?” Steve asked, scrunching his nose at the strong smell of gasoline and engine oil in this place.

“For one, I’m fucking putting up with you.” Billy began, shooting him a look as if that alone were enough of a reason. “And second, I let you drag me to your house to try and give your mom a heart attack and— the only reason we haven't tried again, is because _you_ wanna wait for your dad first.”

Which was… a fair point. Steve really wished he’d thought a little more about the details of this deal they’d made, before jumping head first into it.

“You got my shit?” Billy turned away from him and addressed the guy who was at the counter, he’d been sitting there with his feet kicked up… reading some book and, completely ignoring them up until now.

“Well, well… look what the cat dragged in.” The guy said, grinning wide as he slowly peered up from behind the pages of his book.”Could use your help around here again, if you change your mind about quitting.”

“Maybe,” Billy mused. “But I’m just here to pick up my stuff...”

Steve had already stopped listening to them, having turned away to wander the shop instead. He tried to picture Billy working here, leaning over the cars with their hoods propped open, covered in engine grease... which honestly wasn’t all that different from normal, Billy always seemed to have some kind of filth on him.

He must have been pretty good with cars, if he was actually planning on fixing up some clunker at the junkyard. And that… that thought stuck in Steve’s head, persistent, _nagging_. He wasn't sure why, and he chewed irritated at his lip as he tried to figure it out— why the image of Billy sweating over a rusted out piece of shit car had him reeling a little…

And then it hit him. 

It was exactly the sort of state he should bring the guy home in, after a long day of getting disgusting in the fast approaching Indiana summer heat. Steve just grinned to himself, wondering if Nancy would have been proud of him for that little moment of critical thinking.

“Hey dipshit, you gonna follow through here…?” Billy’s voice echoed through the garage. “Or do I need to say the magic word?” Steve startled a little, before spinning around and walking back to the counter with a confused look. Billy just raised a brow, while the guy running the counter repeated the total.

 _Right_. 

Steve sighed, air hissing through his teeth as he begrudgingly fished his wallet out of his back pocket, and took out his platinum card. His dad was gonna _kill_ him… Seriously who knew a bunch of shitty car parts could cost close to an arm and a leg like that? Steve’s parents had always just… bought him a new car, like every couple years.

By the time he was done paying and had his wallet back in his pocket, Billy was shoving a box (that was _apparently_ far heavier than it looked) into Steve’s arms. He huffed under the weight, putting all his effort into not dropping the thing. He didn’t need to buy another one of… whatever this was. 

Billy took a box of his own, after setting a much larger one onto his skateboard and pushing it along with his free hand. Steve refused to admit that the guy was smart for thinking of that. He started for the door, and Steve didn’t really have much option other than to trail after him like some kind of lost puppy. 

“Uh, so… where are we going now?” Steve asked when he finally got sick of the silence, only to have Billy grunt and ignore him. He would have asked again, but he realized they were retracing their steps back to the skatepark — which was perfect, because that’s where he’d left his car. 

  
Billy’s friends were gone by the time they got there, and Steve was kind of thankful for that. He wasn’t sure he wanted them to see Billy treating him like his lapdog... What he _wasn’t_ thankful for, was the way Billy walked right up to his car and popped open the trunk without Steve’s permission, before dumping the boxes in.

He really should learn to keep it locked, but living in a small town just… he got comfortable.

“The hell are you doing?” Steve asked, annoyed — flinching a little when Billy just snatched the box from his own grip and shoved it in beside the first two.

“You’re driving, genius. There’s no way in hell I'm walking all this stuff to the junkyard.” Billy said simply. 

He slammed the trunk shut, harder than Steve thought was entirely necessary, before rounding to the front of the car and sliding into the passenger side. Steve stood there for a moment, feeling all sorts of irritated— mostly wondering how the _hell_ he’d managed to get himself into this. “Hurry up, don’t got all fucking day!” Billy yelled, twisting around in his chair and flipping Steve off from behind the rear window pane.

Steve wondered if anyone would miss Billy, if he ‘accidentally’ drove off and left the guy stranded at the junkyard when they were done.

* * *

The drive to the junkyard had been awkward. Which should have been expected… because every single _second_ that Steve spent alone with Billy was awkward, stilted… like they just didn’t know how to act human around each other. Steve had turned the radio on to try and tune the weirdness between them out, but Billy hadn’t been content with his choice of station and ended up fiddling with the dial the whole time.

“Seriously, the local stations here blow.” He’d muttered, clearly put out as he was forced to settle on an older rock station.

“I have some CD’s in the armrest.” Steve said noncommittally, trying to focus on driving. Trying not to think about how his entire week had been disrupted by Billy. The guy opened the armrest lid so fast he nailed Steve right in the elbow with it, not even bothering to apologize as Steve drew his arm back and hissed in pain.

“The Backstreet Boys… _Really_ , Harrington?” Billy asked, a little curl to his lip like he was physically disgusted.

Steve just made a not-so manly sound as he reached back to slam the center console closed again. “That's— Nancy left that there.” He explained, it didn’t sound all that convincing. The thing was, she _had_ left it there… it wasn’t a lie. Steve had just... neglected to give it back to her. 

“Sure she did. Be honest now, Steve..." Billy paused for a second, before finally posing his question. "Which one of them gets your panties wet?” He leaned back in his chair, a sharp grin splashed over his face.

“Fuck you.” Steve muttered, an involuntary flush hitting his cheeks. “I like girls.” He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to clarify that, as if Billy wasn’t just trying to mess with him by implying otherwise.

“No shit.” Billy drawled, his grin turning sour. “You’re not exactly full of surprises here, Harrington.” He went back to looking out the window, and Steve had no idea what he’d done to piss the guy off but… he was kind of glad for the return of silence between them.

Billy was out of the car fast, the second Steve pulled into the junkyard… stomping around to the trunk and pulling his stuff out. Steve considered just leaving now. He’d done everything he’d promised and… even _more_. But he was curious, and so he found himself opening the door… following Billy through the yard before he really knew why he was doing it.

“Are we really supposed to be here…?” Steve asked skeptically, watching Billy slip through a locked gate— the boxes barely fitting through the gap behind him.

“I got permission.” Billy said, his voice rough with the effort of carrying everything without help. Steve wasn't entirely sure that he believed that… but he still followed after Billy, sneaking through the fence and grabbing one of the boxes that Billy was struggling with.

Billy didn’t thank him, in fact he looked like he had half a mind to grab it right back... but he didn't, so Steve thought that might have been some sort of progress. They made their way through the graveyard of rusted out cars and trucks until a building came into view.

It was an old garage, and Steve was vaguely aware of the fact that this used to be the location of Hawkins Auto… before it moved into town to be closer to where the business was. The garage here was abandoned ever since… and when he was younger the kids would joke about it being _haunted_. Which was, of course ridiculous.

But the place had certainly seen better days... the windows were so dusty he couldn’t even see in, a couple of them cracked through. And the building itself looked kind of… unsafe, the front of it a strange conglomeration of rusted metal and old brick. There was a metal sign hanging above the doors. It was so old that the paint had flaked away too much, and Steve wasn’t quite able to make out what it had once said. 

Billy pulled a key out of his pocket to unlock the chain that kept the front entrance shut, which… okay, so he _for sure_ had permission to be here. And then Billy shoved the massive, wooden, rolling doors open and… Steve’s jaw dropped a little, looking in at the car sitting there in the center of the garage.

“Wow… that's it?” Steve asked, taking it in. It was older, _vintage_ practically...Steve was kind of surprised that Billy could even get parts for the thing. It was all rusted out, needed a new paint job and a hell of a lot of other things, he could guess.

“She isn’t much now but… baby’s got _potential_.” Billy said fondly, running a hand along the car's rusted hood. “She's freedom.”

Steve just scoffed... Billy ignored him and got to work opening boxes. He pulled a brand new muffler out, and a whole slew of parts that Steve honestly had no idea about. He should’ve gone home, let Billy deal with this on his own… he kept reminding himself how they weren’t actual friends, and they didn’t have to spend real time together but… He didn’t really want to go home either, and well… he was already here.

“Need help?” Steve asked, crouching down next to Billy who was already ratcheting the car up with a jack, laying back on his skateboard and sliding under to try and install the new muffler.

“No offense but— you kinda seem more like hurt, than help.” Billy growled from under the car, pausing a moment before finally sticking his hand out, palm up, waiting patiently. “Hand me the socket wrench.” 

Despite what he’d said, it felt like a test... and Steve fished the correct tool out instantly, feeling smug as he handed it over.

“...Alright, you can help.” Billy said slowly, snatching the wrench and pulling himself out from under the car, just long enough to make burning eye contact with Steve. To leave a warning hanging in the air. “But you don’t have any opinions, thoughts, or any right to my baby whatsoever when she's done— you got it?” 

“Got it.” Steve agreed easily.

With that, Billy was back under the car. He worked free the old muffler, passing it out to Steve who dragged it to a pile of what appeared to consist of parts that Billy had already replaced, before carefully helping to slide the new muffler under the car. Billy took on the brunt of its weight.

They worked together like that for hours... and Steve let Billy do most of the difficult stuff, opting instead to do the busy work. Like fetching things for Billy when he asked, or holding things still while Billy worked on them.

He made sure to keep his mouth shut and stay helpful.

“Did you get body snatched, or something?” Billy asked after the first hour, clearly confused by the fact that Steve hadn’t complained about being ordered around yet.

“Nah, this is kinda fun.” Steve said, shrugging a little. 

It felt like the sort of thing he was supposed to be doing with his dad, one of those classic father son bonding moments… but Mr. Harrington wasn’t one for doing the dirty work himself. Whenever Steve had asked for tips on maintenance for his own car, his dad just told him to take it to the shop and let the professionals do the work.

‘We don’t need you to go messing around with something you don’t understand.’ He’d said, and Steve had to choke back the bitter response bubbling up in the back of his throat. That he would’ve understood it, if anyone had bothered to show him. The truth was, his dad just never had the time, and Steve wasn’t all that important when there was real business to attend to.

Billy wasn’t too nice about it, snapping at Steve whenever he didn’t get something right away — or rolling his eyes when Steve asked a stupid question but… he would also snatch whatever it was out of Steve’s hand and, show him the right way to do it.

“Can’t believe you have that fucking beauty over there,” He jerked his thumb in the direction where Steve had parked the BMW. “And you don't even know how to take care of her.” Billy mumbled, shaking his head.

Steve didn’t know what to say to that… and there was a sudden pressure building up in the back of his throat, like he was actually gonna start _crying_ — fuck if that wasn’t ridiculous... _humiliating_. Billy hadn’t really meant anything by it, Steve knew that… and yet. He stood quickly and excused himself. 

He felt Billy’s eyes burning a hole into his back as he walked away... as he left the garage, stopping on the other side of the sliding doors and leaning against the rusted walls.

Steve hadn’t really thought that something as simple as working on a car with Billy Hargrove was gonna get him all fucked up like this but, life was funny like that. It was just that, the fact that someone who hated him as much as Billy did, was still willing to show him more than his dad was.

Steve wiped sweaty palms over his jeans, swallowed hard and refused to break down. 

“Hey.” Steve nearly jumped out of his skin when Billy’s voice sounded from right next to him. He turned to catch Billy holding out a cigarette to Steve, he wasn’t quite making eye contact, opting instead to stare at a spot to their left. He looked like maybe he regret souring the mood of the day... like maybe this was his idea of a peace offering. 

“Come on, let’s take a break.” He went on to say, when Steve wordlessly accepted the cigarette. And then he was heading back inside... walking back towards the car, opening the door and sliding into the front seat. Steve stood there for a moment, rolling the unlit cigarette between his fingers and then… he was trailing after Billy, getting into the passenger side.

Billy was already puffing on his own cig, and he quickly offered up his lighter to Steve— who took it, flicked the metal lid up and lit his own. Steve breathed in… slowly filled his lungs, sinking into the worn leather seats as it hit him… he felt the stress of earlier melt out of him almost instantly.

Despite being old and neglected, the interior of this junkpile was actually pretty nice… it had held up better than Steve would have thought. “It’s pretty nice inside.” Steve shared his thoughts out loud, feeling along the soft leather with the tips of his fingers… 

“Like I said, _potential._ ” Billy commented. Sliding down in his own seat, almost like he was mirroring Steve’s own relaxation, and sighing. He sounded happy... content. And Steve realized he’d never actually heard Billy sound that at peace before.

“Potential…” Steve repeated quietly, mulling that over. This rusted out piece junk… it probably had more potential than _he_ did.

* * *

“So, when the _hell_ are you guys gonna fill me in on what’s going on?” Tommy asked. 

Steve and Nancy instantly stopped whispering back and forth to look at him. They both had a sort of, deer-in-headlights looks about them, and Tommy frowned.

They were sitting in his basement, because every Wednesday after school they would meet up at Tommy’s place to watch Unsolved Mysteries. Nancy got way more into it than any of them, and Tommy always made fun of her for it. Steve just figured she was gonna become some kind of investigative reporter or something, when she was finally free from the hell pits of high school.

“Nothing’s going on.” Steve quickly said, to which Tommy snarled back with a harsh ‘ _I’m not stupid_!'

“We’re just…” Nancy paused to give Steve an apologetic look… and he knew, she couldn’t keep hiding this sort of thing from a friend. Even if that friend was Tommy Fucking Hagan. “So you know how controlling Steve’s parents are, right?”  
  


Tommy just nodded, the scowl on his face faltering slightly… He knew real well, just how bad Steve’s parents were. Tommy and him had been friends for much longer than either of them had known Nancy and… Steve used to sneak out of his house when he was thirteen, walk the three blocks to Tommy’s house and crawl in through his window.

Whenever his parents got to be too much, whenever their overbearing, controlling methods had Steve feeling trapped and… a little like the real him was, being erased. Molded. Tommy would leave his window open just enough for Steve to slip his fingers under, and lift up. Even on a cold day, even when there was snow outside and he had to stuff a towel under the crack so his room didn’t get _freezing_.

He always had it open for Steve.

And Steve would climb in and they would have some kind of spur-of-the-moment sleepover and… Tommy wouldn’t ask, wouldn’t push for what happened. He just acted cool, like this was normal and… it made Steve feel normal, too.

So it was a fact that Tommy knew all too well the history of Steve and his parents — more than Nancy even knew. “Okay, well we were talking one day and… I mean, we’re graduating soon and… it’s kind of like.” She stopped, frowning a little.

“The last hurrah.” Steve offered.

“Yeah, something like that.” Nancy agreed, “And Steve said he wanted to piss off his parents.”

“Don’t we all.” Tommy sighed, leaning back into the lumpy sofa cushions. And Steve got a little lost in his memories... he had helped Tommy get this couch, back when his mom said he could turn the basement into a spot to hangout… they’d found it just sitting there on the curb of the street, walking home from school one day.

It’d had a free sign on it, and Tommy had gone ballistic. Talking about fate, destiny, and how this couch was _meant_ for him. It was a ugly brown, super old and dated — and damn, had it _smelled.._. like some old ladies house. (It still kind of smelled, but now it was more like weed and teenagers)

Steve and Tommy had proceeded to drag the thing all the way back to Tommy’s house, and the whole trip had taken two hours. Because it was fucking heavy, and they kept having to take breaks… dropping the sofa onto the sidewalk and throwing themselves into it. Sweating in the summer heat and breathing heavily from the effort.

He could still remember the weird looks people had shot them, when they’d drove by to find two teenage boys chilling on an old sofa in the middle of the sidewalk. 

When they’d finally gotten it to the house, Tommy’s mom got them iced tea and they christened the couch by wrestling on it — Tommy had accidentally elbowed Steve’s nose in the tousle. There was still a blood stain on the left armrest, and Steve had claimed that as his side ever since.

“Right!” Nancy agreed, pulling Steve back out of his memories. “So I said… like, what better way to piss off the Harrington’s than being friends with Billy Hargrove.” She finished, shrugging a little. Like it was a casual thing, just befriending the homicidal freak. The guy that had nearly broken Tommy’s face the first year he’d moved here.

Tommy had grabbed his drink while she’d started explaining, and he comically spit it out all over the pallet crates that served as a coffee table when she was done. “ _What?!_ ” Tommy wheezed, staring like he couldn’t actually believe what had just come out of her mouth.

  
Steve was staring too, disgusted by what had just come out of _Tommy’s_ mouth.

“It’s a good idea.” Nancy defended, clearly bothered by Tommy’s disbelief.

“It’s a good idea?!” Tommy echoed, incredulous. “Billy is a fucking psychopath and… and… and what makes you think he’s gonna talk to someone like _Steve_?”

“Ouch.” Steve said slowly, frowning. “We’re already talking, he agreed.” 

“What the hell? I’m fucking—” Tommy stuttered a little, tripping over his own words. “Betrayal! That’s what this is.” He finally got out.

“You guys are so dramatic…” Carol’s voice drawled from behind, and they all turned to catch her fixing her skirt, coming back from the bathroom. Steve had no idea what the hell girls did in there, because Carol would disappear for thirty minutes at a time. Which just seemed… impossible. 

Tommy shot her a pathetic look, and she rolled her eyes… before flopping over into the couch and setting her legs up on the still slightly dripping table. It was a tight fit for all four of them, but that was kind of the fun part… Steve liked the contact, he always had been a little touchy-feely. The fact that it was platonic was even better, because it didn’t come with any of the bullshit.

“Steve is gonna be friends with Hargrove.” Tommy whined, and Carol squeezed in a placating way at his cheeks.

“I’m not gonna be _actual_ friends with him, Tommy…” Steve explained, turning to face the TV as the Unsolved Mysteries theme kicked on… it was time, and he didn’t want to ruin the vibes. “We’re just pretending… and it's only temporary, dude.”

Tommy still seemed a little put out but… some of his sour expression melted, and he seemed to be thinking it over. Steve leaned his whole body over the two girls, both of them protesting at Steve’s weight, until his head was in Tommy’s lap. Mumbling the last of his excuse into Tommy’s thigh.

“Come on man, after my parents freak out we can go right back to hating him…” Tommy grumbled, but Steve could tell he was letting it go. “Okay?” Steve asked, turning his head and firing puppy dog eyes up at his freckled friend.

  
Tommy was staring back down, a little quirk in his lip. Like he was trying to stay mad, but Steve knew he’d chinked through the ice. “Okay fine... “ Tommy finally muttered, looking back at the TV screen. “But you fucking _owe_ me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wont lie, my general knowledge of cars is... severely lacking. Hopefully I can fake my way through this shit, but feel free to let me know if I've said something ridiculous.
> 
> [-Tumblr-](https://shewritesdirty.tumblr.com/)   
>  [-Twitter-](https://twitter.com/_Cait_Sidhe_)   
>  [-Playlist-](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SgREu852Q0FJDGrqj8JLK?si=w408B6lrQf6GlAYG9E-mrg)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [-Playlist-](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SgREu852Q0FJDGrqj8JLK?si=w408B6lrQf6GlAYG9E-mrg)

Not only had Mr. Harrington finally arrived back home from his business trip... but he’d brought an important colleague with him to boot. 

The guy was going to be spending a week with them, which wasn’t much of an issue considering they had three guest rooms… but it also meant that Steve's parents were putting on all the airs, being sure to make a good impression while the guy was here. 

And it just so happened that his mother was planning some sort of get together, to introduce the guy to all their important friends. It couldn’t have been more perfect if Steve had planned the whole thing himself.

She told him he could have some friends over, and of course she meant Nancy by that— or maybe even Tommy and Carol. She certainly didn't mean Billy Hargrove... she’d probably forgotten all about the stunt he’d pulled inviting the guy over that one time.

But because she’d forgotten, she didn’t explicitly tell him he  _ couldn't _ invite Billy… or even if she had, it wouldn’t have stopped him. So the second Steve got a chance to slip away from being tasked with setting up party stuff with her... he dashed up to his room, dug his flip phone out of his backpack and called Billy.

He’d managed to get the number off him after that day at the junkyard,  _ ‘strictly for business purposes’ _ Steve had stated when he asked. Billy just scoffed, before snagging a pen out of Steve’s center console and grabbing his hand— jotting down a number over the tender skin on his wrist.

Steve had pulled his hand back... feeling a little weird. His skin tingling with heat where Billy had held him still while he worked, from the firm pressure of his fingers. As soon as he’d gotten home, he’d added Billy into his contacts before carefully and thoroughly washing the ink from his skin.

And now he was laying back on his bed, nervously listening to the ringing of his phone as he called the guy up.There was a click over the receiver, and before Steve could say anything a familiar voice punched through. “Now you listen to me, you corporate snake... you sad little excuse for a man, you—”

“Uh… Mrs. Hargrove?” Steve cut in, feeling a little caught off guard by the tone of her voice. It was nothing like the warmth that he was expecting, that he’d come to grow familiar with after spending time at her home.

“Who—” She paused, and he could actually picture the look of confusion on her face that was probably pasted all over her face. “Who is this?”

“Steve, Steve Harrington.” He quickly explained. “Should I uh… call back later?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to interrupt whatever it was that had the fun, caring person he’d met nearly a week ago answering her phone like she was ready to throttle someone...

“Oh no, I _ love _ the idea of you tying up my line, honey. And call me Beth, really!” She said, her tone switching to sugary sweet so fast Steve’s head nearly spun with it. “Let me guess, you’re calling for Billy.” And before he could give an answer he could hear her covering the receiver— yelling out his name. “He’s running to his room, I haven’t seen him this excited for a friends call in years!” 

“Uh… yeah, that's. Cool.” He was pretty sure that Billy just didn’t want to give Steve much time to talk to his mother.

“Don’t be a stranger now, Steve. We’ve been hoping you’ll stop by again...” She was saying, when a sudden click sounded over their call and the unmistakable huff of Billy’s breath interrupted them.

“Mom, hang up.” Billy’s voice was clipped, and he sounded slightly out of breath… and a bit like he was already impossibly annoyed by the entire situation.

“Don’t be rude, kiddo.” Beth admonished, a little twist of humor laying under the motherly tone. Steve got the impression she knew it was just the right thing to say to poke her son over the edge.

“ _ HANG UP! _ ” Billy yelled, his voice crackling over the airwaves. Steve winced at the sudden raise in volume, cautiously pressing his ear back to the phone after having jerked away… only to catch Beth’s voice chuckling softly, and then there was another click as the first line went dead.

“What the fuck, Harrington.” Billy growled the words... accusatory— as if this was  _ his _ fault. Which was pretty uncalled for, considering Billy had given over his number of his own free will. Steve wasn’t exactly sure where he got off, acting like he was annoyed about actually getting the call.

“You need to come over today.” Was all Steve said, ignoring the way Billy’s tone rankled him. He was in charge, he just needed to remember that… maybe Billy was boss at the junkyard but— here, when dealing with everything else... it was Steve’s way or the highway

“You telling me what to do now?” Billy asked, a combative nature to his voice. And it just made Steve feel even more defensive, frustrated with how Billy turned everything into some kind of fight… like it was a constant war, and getting him to do anything for Steve was like… like pulling teeth.

Which was total bullshit, because Steve was  _ paying _ him.

“Yeah, isn’t that the deal?” Steve bit out, not quite able to hide his own frustration— he could already hear cars pulling up in the drive outside… his mothers voice filtering up to his window, as she greeted their guests and invited them inside.

“Nothin’ in our contract that says you can't ask me  _ nicely. _ ” Billy fired back, and Steve could hear him sucking on his teeth… it was the thing he did right before a fight, Steve had seen it happen plenty of times at school.

“Just…  _ get _ here.” Steve said sharply, hanging up before he had to listen to whatever Billy might say back to that. He sighed and scrubbed his hands through his hair. He really was starting to think this whole thing was just… the worst idea. The thought left a lingering twisting feeling in his stomach, as he got up and headed downstairs to humor his mother and her guests.

* * *

Billy arrived like a hurricane, crashing through the Harrington’s perfectly manicured backyard... and Steve couldn’t have asked for anything better.

He brought his skateboard, wore some dirty old flannel and jeans that were all torn to pieces...and waltzed right into the backyard like he belonged there. Instantly set to helping Steve’s mom with a tray of hors d'oeuvres that she was balancing unsteadily in her palm.

“Oh!” She’d exclaimed, looking him up and down with a sort of uneasy horror plastered all over her face. It was almost comical, with the way Billy was grinning back at her. “Steve! Your friend is... here.” She called out to him, after she’d recovered from the initial shock of seeing Billy again. 

Steve wondered if that pause was her trying not to say what she  _ really _ meant. Something along the lines of… ‘your friend is clearly a delinquent, and please remove him from the premises’. Maybe.

At least he had the confirmation now... that she'd forgotten the first time she met him. Or maybe she just never looked all that close in the first place… because her nose was wrinkled now, as she watched the way Billy sauntered over to Steve.

“Looks like mommy dearest likes me a little less in natural light.” Billy drawled, pulling a little too close to Steve for his own comfort— slinging a heavy, loose arm around his shoulders.

“She can make out the _ stains _ now.” Steve said under his breath, wrinkling his own nose. Billy smelled so strongly of cigarette smoke that he probably could have set off alarms… Steve warmed a little, wondering if that was done for his benefit.

Or maybe Billy was just nervous… maybe he needed to smoke some confidence into his bloodstream before coming here.

Steve shook that thought from his head, the last thing he needed was to get sidetracked by thinking about his fake-friend acting like an  _ actual  _ human-being. “Where’s Daddy?” Billy asked, dropping his tone low in a way that made Steve’s stomach churn. 

“ _ Please _ don’t say it like that.” Steve begged, quickly scanning the party for his dad. He was by the edge of the yard, a few of his friends gathered around— joking about something with his colleague. Probably golf, or some other insufferably dull pastime that his father seemed to enjoy only for the fact that it got him in with the ‘right sort’ of people.

Steve remembered when he used to get dragged along to games, forced to carry his dad’s clubs around for him. It was humiliating, but he didn’t know much better as a kid. It wasn’t like his dad brought him there to actually bond with him… and usually after the first hour, Steve would ditch the stuff with one of the Country Club’s caddies and run off to the bar.

The guy behind the counter would pass him a fresh coke-a-cola and Steve would suck aggressively on the straw… put out over the fact that his father spent more time with business partners than he  _ ever _ did with Steve.

Not much had changed since Steve was ten... It was still like that. He just stopped hoping for the chance that his dad's behavior would change.

Steve nodded in the direction of his dad, and Billy just… started walking, steering them in his direction. And Steve felt himself locking up, suddenly nervous… setting his weight against the arm wrapped around his shoulders, as if he could actually stop their forward progress.

_ “Relax…”  _ Billy whispered softly, angling his head ever so slightly to the side of Steve’s face— he couldn’t help but shiver at the way Billy’s warm breath brushed against the shell of his ear. And his Dad was looking straight at them now, the laugh that had been permanently etched onto his face from speaking with his colleague... suddenly twisted down as he took in Billy. 

And Steve knew he saw it— knew his dad caught the way Billy had leaned in, the way he’d whispered in Steve’s ear like they were… were  _ close _ .

Like they were in on something together.

“Hey, Dad… I wanted to introduce you to my friend uh— Billy.” Steve rushed to say, his voice shaking a little. Mr. Harrington swiftly stepped away from the group he’d been talking to, forcing the two of them to back up or he would have ended up  _ pushing _ them away.

As soon as they were well enough out of earshot, he spoke. “Steven. Now really isn’t the time.” He addressed Steve as if they were alone, barely even acknowledging Billy... who was still hanging off of Steve’s left side like they were attached at the hip.

“Sorry sir, I’ve just heard so much about you… wanted to put a face to the name.” Billy chimed in before Steve could answer, licking at his lips— a little hint of something dangerous to his voice. Like Billy had already decided. That he  _ hated _ this man, that Steve’s dad set his teeth on edge.

Mr. Harrington finally looked over, made eye contact with Billy and… it was eerily silent, as they stared each other down.

“Yes. Billy.” Mr. Harrington said, finally acknowledging him. Holding out a hand and… Billy hesitated, before grabbing it— earning himself a firm handshake and… this was _ strange _ . It wasn’t quite going like Steve had expected it to. 

Because it kind of felt like… yeah, his dad didn’t really seem to know what to think about Billy. But it wasn't like he seemed to care that much either… he almost hadn't noticed the guy at first. All his focus was on Steve, and it was just… clear disappointment, radiating off him in waves.

Steve was barely listening but… he knew they were talking now. That Billy was saying something to his dad, leaning his weight into Steve’s body as he talked… slipping that hand from around Steve’s shoulders down the curve of his waist, into the back pocket of his jeans and… suddenly  _ pinching _ .

Steve yelped, jumping a little and flushing— and then he was checked in again, out of his head. “Steven, I’m asking you a question.” His dad said, those disapproving eyes trained on Steve again. And it was just bullshit, because he was supposed to be looking at  _ Billy _ like that.

“Sorry  _ sir _ , we were hanging out last night... guess I kept him up a bit too late.” Billy’s voice was dripping with suggestion, and it was like he was trying to climb Steve like he was a tree… plastered to his side, leaning close enough that Steve could feel those golden curls brushing against his cheek.

And that… that was a lie. They hadn’t hung out last night at all. 

But Steve’s dad turned that look away from him finally... and he managed to relax a bit from then way he’d sunk into himself and… he caught the tight grimace his dad fired at Billy. Like whatever it was, Billy had just earned himself negative points.

Apparently, not as negative as Steve had earned  _ himself  _ though. Which was… just. Hard to stomach. That his dad, with as much as he hated people like… like Billy. That as much time he spent over breakfast, pouring over the day's paper and acting like both his son and wife never existed… that his rambling about how those ‘delinquent type kids need to be taken off the street…’

That even with all of that, he was still far more disappointed in Steve for who he was… than he was in the fact that he’d made friends with someone like Billy.

“You should get back to your work buddies.” Steve choked out, flushing in humiliation at the way his voice broke a little around the words.

“Yes, you did distract me. You _know_ I'm working here.” He said it quiet enough that no one else could overhear them, and then he was turning away— walking back to his coworkers with a smile on his face.

“Fuck that guy.” Billy said, his voice a little louder than necessary. Steve just turned on his heel, stalking back towards the house… Billy trailing on his heels, calling his name. Steve just ignored it… his feet carrying him like they were on auto pilot, up the sweeping staircase to the second floor.

And then his hand was on the door to his room, and he sulkily slammed it behind him… Only for Billy to show up seconds later, opening it again and slipping quietly into the room.

He’d expected Billy to make fun of him or something, call him dramatic and… point out again, that Steve’s life was pretty good. That he was starting trouble over  _ nothing _ . But Billy didn’t do any of that, instead he’d grumbled again that Steve’s dad was an asshole… before sitting huffily down in the computer chair at his desk.

And then he just… listened to Steve complain.

Which… Steve had a lot to say. About how his parents treated him, how they expected so much from him… but they never really cared about the things he actually wanted. They just wanted him to be a mini-clone of them, to want all the same things they wanted. But he just didn’t fit the mold, and they were never gonna be able to squish him in… no matter how hard they squeezed.  


Billy’s eyes glazed over about half way through Steve’s rant.

“And... fuck it! This isn’t working!” Steve yelled, once he’d finished rambling on and on about how horrible his parents were. Maybe his dad hadn’t liked Billy very much— and it seemed pretty mutual— but it didn’t seem like he really cared much that they were friends, either.

“They probably think I’m a phase.” Billy offered, fiddling with the Rubik's cube that he’d found on Steve’s desk… the one that Steve had never once managed to solve. His parents had gotten it for him a couple birthdays ago, like they still believed they could make him smart… if they just threw enough smart-kid stuff at him.

“Come on! What am I supposed to do that’s worse than being friends with you?” Steve sighed, collapsing into his bed. 

“Ouch _...  _ really _? _ ” Billy muttered, sounding like he was actually hurt by what Steve had said— which was  _ weird _ . “Your parents are laced tighter than a mid century corset man, you gotta be able to think of something else.”

“What the fuck are you even saying.” Steve complained, rolling over to give Billy a pained look. “You got any bright ideas?”   
  
“Sure, drugs.” Billy said, grinning again— holding out his arm and pretending to shoot himself up with nothing.   
  
“Get real.” Steve said, rolling his eyes.   
  
“Sex?” Billy tried instead, waggling his brow. He’d already gotten one side of the cube to all one color, and Steve wanted to scream.

“Please, I’d probably have to have sex with  _ you _ for that to work…” Steve groaned, and Billy just pulled a disgusted face at the suggestion. “Wait a second…” Steve gasped all of a sudden, sitting up a bit.

“What?” Billy asked, caution in his voice... like he didn’t like the manic look that was on Steve’s face.

“ _ THAT’S IT! _ ” Steve shouted, jumping out of his bed and startling Billy.

“The hell’s your problem?” Billy accused, pulling away like maybe he was worried Steve had lost his mind.

“Sex with you!” Steve yelled, barely able to contain his joy. “Like— not really though just... If they  _ think  _ we had sex.” Steve explained when Billy looked like he was contemplating throwing himself out of Steve’s window just to get away from him.

“Yeah right! You saw how your dad was looking at me when I got close to you… he’ll fuckin’ skin me alive” Billy fired back, which. Steve  _ had  _ seen his dad’s reaction, and had been kind of confused by it. But if it was all about the implication that his son could have been gay… with someone like Billy, then it just proved that they could  _ use  _ that.

“Exactly! That’s what we’re going for here.” Was all he replied with, still wondering… why Billy had even done that anyway, grabbed his ass and… he kind of just figured it was to fuck with him, but maybe he’d sensed some kind of homophobic aura in Steve’s dad since the moment he’d clocked him.

“No... _you’re_ fucking crazy.” Billy bit back, curling his lip. “And just because I have two moms it doesn't mean I'm gay.” 

“So what? We aren’t actually gonna do anything… just act like it for a couple weeks— my parents will flip their lids, man.” Steve could picture it now, the looks on their faces… it was gonna be sweet.

“Yeah? And what about your precious reputation, you think everyone’s gonna be cool with King Steve the  _ fag _ ?” Billy spit out, his voice taking on a cruel tone as the words left his lips.  


“My friends don’t care about that sort of thing…” Steve said slowly. Besides— his close friends already knew what was going on… it wasn’t going to be like they _ actually _ thought he was into Billy… right?

“You sure about that?” Billy asked, digging in just a little deeper. 

And maybe he wasn't… wasn’t  _ completely  _ sure, but Billy’s parents were cool… he  _ liked _ them. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to be friends with anyone who wouldn’t accept them… who wouldn’t accept  _ him _ , if he was like them.   
  
“Doesn't matter.” Steve said with a shrug, and Billy’s jaw just dropped a little.

“You’re fucking serious…” Billy said, the realization hitting him.

“Deadly.” Steve said, dropping his hands on either side of Billy’s chair and leaning forward… hovering over him. “So are you in Hargrove, or are you too pussy?” He challenged, grinning at the little fire those words set off behind Billy’s eyes.

Bingo.

“Gonna be hard to convince people that I'd  _ actually _ date you…” Billy said, grinning a little himself now. “But I guess we can try.”

“Ha fucking ha, very funny.” Was all Steve answered back with, he couldn’t even let Billy’s bullshit drag him down. He was a damn genius, this plan was  _ perfect _ .

Nancy was gonna lose her mind when he told her. 

* * *

  
  


“I can’t believe he agreed to that…” Nancy muttered, he figured he shouldn’t tell too many people the truth about this whole thing… they were trying to keep it convincing, after all. But his friends were another story, and he couldn’t really reconcile with lying to them. Besides, if he didn’t have someone to confess to about what was going on... he’d probably go crazy.

“Steve, don’t you think you’re going a little too far with this?” She went on to say, it sounded a bit like she was actually concerned.

“Look, it's just for a little while— just to piss them off, right?” Steve explained into the phone. Billy had left over an hour ago, and Steve had been mulling the plan over… then he broke and called Nancy to fill her in on the whole thing.

“This just seems, kind of…” Nancy sighed, like it was hard to get out what she really wanted to say. “You and Billy already have this weird thing between the two of you, and it feels like this is gonna make everything so much worse.”

“There’s nothing weird between us, we just hate each other.” Steve said easily, he was laying on his bed with his flip-phone tucked under his chin as he talked… fiddling with the Rubik’s cube that Billy had left behind. It was half solved, and Steve had idly set to trying to finish it… so far, he’d only managed to walk back all the progress Billy had made.   
  
“That’s the thing I’m worried about.” Nancy insisted, and he could imagine the frown on her face… just from the tone of her voice.

“C’mon, it’s not a big deal… we’re just gonna pretend until graduation and then… BAM! It was all a big joke, and everyone laughs.” Steve said, totally confident in his assessment of how this thing would play out.

“Okay but like, are you gonna….  _ Kiss him?” _ Nancy asked, her voice going small on the words ‘kiss him’.

“Ew no. I mean… I don’t know.” Steve said, his nose scrunching up at the thought of it. “I guess it would be more convincing if we did but… he’s a guy.”   
  
“Yeah Steve, I  _ know. _ ” Nancy said with a sigh, “And you’re not interested in guys…?” He felt it should have been a statement but… it was more like a question.  


“Right… neither is he.” Steve pointed out, blinking a little at how he’d managed to undo like… an entire side of the cube that Billy had completed. Steve figured this Rubik guy must have been pretty fucking miserable to unleash something like this on the world. “So like, if we  _ did _ kiss… it wouldn’t even mean anything, right?”

“Oh my god. Steve,  _ don’t  _ kiss him… I’m begging you.” He knew that tone, that was the tone Nancy used when Steve was walking himself head first into a particularly stupid situation. “This has already gone too far!”

“Why? What do you think is gonna happen if I kiss him?!” Steve demanded. “You think I cant keep things professional?”

“Steve, the fact that you just used the word ‘professional’ to me, while discussing a pretend relationship... “ She had a point. “Look, you’re just... a big, fluffy, Marshmallow, right?”   
  
“No.” Steve insisted, feeling a little put out by her description.

“Shut up, you’re squishy and you melt easy. And Billy is like an open flame. You’re gonna get too close, and get all gooey, and then you’re gonna cross some line and… this whole thing is gonna turn into a charred, disgusting mess.”   
  
“Wrong, I’m steel and he's a toothpick.” Steve said, adamant about the fact. “Can’t even put a dent in this.”

“Just, please promise me you won't  _ kiss _ him... just to prove a point, Steve?” Nancy pressed on, “It's ridiculous.”

“It’s not to prove a point, it’s to cement the subterfuge.” Steve said, smiling wide at his use of one of Nancy’s study words.

“If you think you can win my approval by using that correctly, you have another thing coming.” She admonished, and Steve just grinned even harder.

He had things under control, and she was gonna eat her words when this whole thing was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DID I THINK TWO LONG STORY FICS AT THE SAME TIME WAS A GOOD IDEA…? (and me actually considering posting more for a diff fandom I have issuesss focusing on one single thing ROFL) Okay but I literally have like three more chapters of this fic in draft form, practically ready for posting. So I’m just gonna keep posting them weekly (along with SitW) till I run out and then we’ll see how it goes from there.


End file.
